Dearmored leather



Patented Jan. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE,

THEODORE H. KOI-ILER, BLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE OCEAN LEATHER 00., INCL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

nnanmonnn LEA H R.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, THEODOREH. KoI-ILnR,

a citizen of the United States, and residing at Bloomfield, in the county of Essex and- State of New Jersey, have invented anew and Improved Dearn'lored Leather, of which the following specification is a full disclosure. This invention relates to tanned fish-skins, and is 'in'the nature of an article of manu facture characterized by its complete freedom superficially as well as subcutaneously, from the dermal armor or papillate-scabrous material constituting the protective layer of a skin of a shark or the like.

A shark-skin has never been produced entirelyfree from its dermal armor; especially in a thoroughly tanned condition. Many attempts have been made to produce such a leather, but they have all failed completely to get rid of its so-called shagreen by reason of the fact that it is, composed of a myriad of papillate-scabrous teeth projectioiis, each of which has its root firmly embedded in minute sockets in the epidermis of the skin. These papillae have always resisted any attempts to remove them by pure- 1y mechanical means, such as through the use of abrasive wheels, or scraping implements. \Yhile the protruding portions may be more or less completely worn away, their roots will remain irren'lovable in the pores or sockets, and it has therefore been impossible to produce a satisfactory piece of leather from such skins. Likewise, allattempts to remove the shagreen through the agency of chemicals have had the eflect of destroying the corium of the skin; making it impossible to produce a satisfactory piece of leather.

I have nevertheless succeeded in producing a completely de-armored sharp-skin in a thoroughly tanned condition and with the epidermal surface substantially intact; the

' pores of the resultant leather being freed from the papillae so that its epidermal surface possesses a flexibilitysubstantially equal to the finest grades of leather produced from other sources. This epidermal surface after treatment is very tough compared to ordinary leather and is highly resistant to abrasion, barking, or scufling. My.

product furthermore is uniformly absorptive to various conventional dye-stuffs so 6 that it admits being colored as easily, as

Application filed July 23, 1921. Serial No. 487,211.

freely and as perfectly as an other species of leather. Also, it is tong 'to an extraordinary de res and yet can be cut or sewed without difl fc'ulty in contradistinction from shark-skins which contain in their pores k the stumps of the papillae.

My new product may easily be made by means of the process disclosed in my co pending application for Letters Patent of the United States Serial Number 487,210 filed July 23, 1921.

Briefly stated, the process used by me for the preparation of my new species of leather is based upon the discovery that if the raw skin be first converted into leather by means of a vegetable tanning process, the papillae will not be rendered. resistant to the action of the hydrochloric acid; whereas the true skin will not be afiected. The hydrochloric acid will render the papilla: sufficiently soluble or at least so far loosen their bondage that they may be easily removed together with the sub-surface portions thereof by the application of'water accompanied by some mechanical attrition, such as scouring or tumbling. The treatment is preferably effected as follows:

In carrying out my processas I prefer to employit, the raw skin that is, the skin after removal from the fish and with the armor thereon,should be thoroughly tanned before removing the shagreen, and preferably by means of suitable organic tanning ents Nos. 1,230,266, June 19, 1917, and 1,256,-

974, Feb. 19, 1918 to Kristian Bendixen, may be resorted to except in so far as they refer to the use of chrome tanning'materials. It is important that the tanning be thoroughly accomplished, and I have found that vegetable,or other organic agents preferably should be employed. After the tanning it will be found that the flintlike nodules of the armor have been loosened from their adhesions in the pores or depressions in the skin, and may beeasily removed as a. whole without leaving roots in the pores. I have discovered that the effect of this tanning agent is to convert the raw skin into a true leather displaying a high resistance to an agent capable of acting on the papillae which, for some reason, are not rendered 1etwenty-two to twenty-four gallons of HCl (at 18 B.) to about five hundred pounds of skin. The rotation is continued for two to three hours, with the result that the papillae are loosened and disintegrated and are, by the attrition, separated from the hide, and they may be washed away as minute nodules. Then washing is effected for about an hour by continuing the rotation; using water. Thereby, the acid is eliminated; the final washing being accomplished preferably by means of a solution of borax (say one pound of borax for each two hundred pounds of hide) and any residual acid is thereby neutralized.

The hides from the tumbling barrel will be found quite free from any armor and will be perfectly tanned and nowise injured by the treatment, but in a condition to undergo any suitable finishing processes. For example, they now will readily and uniformly accept the coloring material conveniently employed for finished leather and, after the coloring has been done, they may be oiled and dried and-are thus made ready for the market.

The resultant leather displays a handsome grained surface entirely devoid of its original armor and is tough and tenacious to an extraordinary degree and may be readily cut, sewed, embossed and otherwise worked up into various articles of manufacture.

' The epidermal surface is in its natural condition, retaining all the wear and abrasive resistant qualities which the leather should have in its final form.

Asan alternative to the above-mentioned continuous scale-removing steps, it is quite feasible to apply the acid by hand to the previously-tanned hides for painting. a succession of coats of acid on the armored side at intervals of about six hours untilthe papillae have become sufficiently disintegrated or loosened from the epidermis to permit them to be eliminated by the action-of water and a scraping implement. It has been found that the acid mentioned has the effect of rendering the papillae more or less soluble in water, preferably by converting them into gelatine so that their removal becomes a simple matter.

The above mentioned process is not claimed herein; but is made the subject matter of my other application for patent; this application being directed to the product as an article of manufacture.

I therefore claim as new and desire to so cure by Letters Patent:

1. Leather consisting of the tanned skin of an armored fish, freed of the armor including the sub-surface portions, but retaining in substance the naturalepidermal surface.

2. Leather consisting of tanned skin of an armored fish, freed of the armor including the sub-surface portions but containing the depressions from which the armor has been removed and retaining in substance the nut ural epidermal surface.

3. Tanned shark skin leather from which the armor has been completely removed and the outer surface of which has a toughness greater than that of the underlyin leather body, and comprising substantially t 1e whole epidermal skin.

4. Leather comprising the tanned skin of a shark with the armored portion thereof substantially completely removed, but leaving the natural epidermal surface substantially intact and having a multiplicity of raised portions on said epidermal surface of greater resistance and wear than the main body portion of said leather, whereby the said surface is rendered relatively nouscufling.

5. Leather consisting of skin of an armored fish tanned b "an organic tanning material, and which has been freed of the armor including the subsurface portions. but retaining in substance the natural epidermal surface.

6. Leather consisting of the tanned skin of an armoredfish, freed of the armor including the sub-surface portions and having a regularly grained epidermal surface which is substantially non-scuffing.

In witness whereof. I hereunto subs -ribe my name, as attested by the two subscribing witnesses.

THEODORE H. KOl-ILER.

Witnesses:

H. S. DOTTENHEU, MARTHA GROSSMAN. 

